During the fifth game between the Charlotte Hornets and Miami Heat, the former was only able to win by just two points. This is probably the reason why Dwayne Wade and the rest of the team are protesting the events during the last few seconds of the game.
As reported by CBS Sports, with 2.6 seconds left, Wade attacked the basket in an attempt to tie the game and go to a possible overtime. However, he was stopped by Cody Zeller and Courtney Lee of the Hornets. With these two defending him under the basket, Wade failed to make what could have been a game-changing shot.
Although it was clearly seen during the game and in the replays that there was contact between Wade and these two players, the referees did not make a foul call. And, after reviewing the incident, the NBA sided with the referees' decision,
"Zeller comes towards Wade from across the restricted area, planting his foot and jumping vertically to defend Wade's shot," the league said in a statement. "Zeller absorbs contact when it occurs and, while his arms are not completely vertical, multiple angles confirm they do not make contact with Wade. Therefore, Zeller maintains a legal guarding position as he attempts to defend the shot."
The NBA then noted that Lee made contact with the ball as Wade jumped for the attempted shot. However, the only time these two players' arms collided with one another was when the ball was no longer in Wade's possession.
Members of Heat, especially Miami, are of course not happy with the referees and the NBA's decision in sticking with a non-call. Wade maintained that he got fouled during the last seconds of Game 5 and Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra said that he doesn't need to view the replay to know that the referees made a wrong decision.
"To be honest, I doon't look at [the replays]," the coach said according to ESPN. "That doesn't help if they disagree and say it should have been a foul. What do you do? You just become frustrated."
"Or if they disagree with you, you can go down that rabbit hole of 'How do you not see it that way?'" Spoelstra added.
